Wichita eagle., 1887-08-03

hall when tell you it is 800 feet long, e
feet wide and 100 feet high, and yet this
magnificent assembly room Is unfinished
: and unoccupied, whilst an insigniican,
J chamber, barely up to the requirements Of
, state legislature hall, serves the house Of
mmons year in and year out for theil
| deliberations.
From the rotunda we enter hall, where
we show our passes to policeman On duty,
and enter the Yestibule to the house, where
, doorkeeper requires us to register. We
are then hidden to 60 up a steep narrow
stair way, and presently we find ourselves
in an Insignificant gallery, the only one for
visitors capable of seating about 200 per-
sons. What surprises us as we obtain a
seat and look down on the bald heads of
the members, Is the lack of accommoda-
lions for such large body of men. The
dimensions of the room are only As by 62
feet and 40 feet high. There are five rows
of benches without a desk, terraced back,
from near the center of the room to both
sides of the wall There is barely room in
the center of the house for table, possibly
20 feet long and admitting of narrow pas
sage on either side. At one end of the
table sits the assistant speaker and two
clerks, who are barristers in wigs and
gown. The speakers chair Is Immediately
back of these, encased in a raised box
closed on three sides. On a gallery back
of the speaker sits the reporters, and still
back of them and extending on three sides
of the house narrow gallery to accomo-
date the overflow of members for
there are not sufficiency of seats
in the body of the house. Thus you will
see l have made myself understood that
members on the right face those on the
left, and not the speaker, as is universally
the custom liz all our legislative assemblies.
The members, except when addressing the
chair, are privileged to wear their hats,
| which majority of them do. The minis
try, or cabinet of the queen, occupy seats
In the body of the house, sitting together
near the long table. In the five hours spent
by us in the gallery, they seemed to have
| their hands full advocating and defending
such legislation as had been introduced by
them, for party lines are as closely drawn
here between Unionists-the party in
power, and Liberals-the Gladstone Par
nell party, as between Democrats and Re-
publicans in our own congress, and the
government has about all it can do to cope
successfully with the tactics of the minori-
ty, who appeared to me to be an excep-
tionally strong and talented body of men.
Subsequently we gained admittance to the
house of peers, or lords, as it is sometimes
called when the Irish crimes bill was under
discussion. The room occupied by them
is about equal in size to that of the lower
house, but is much more deliberately finish
ed. The gallery for visitors is quite small
Ladies, however, are admitted, which is
not the case in the house of commons
The members seats are arranged in the
same order as described above. The throne
is at one end of the hall; in front of this
is the seat called the wool sack, of the lord
chancellor, who presides; then comes the
long table at the opposite end of which and
facing the presiding officer, who wears the
wig and gown, sit three clerks similarly
attired.
The reporters gallery is in the rear of
nvI bob I'D &6ox,
apart for strangers Our senate partakes
of many of the features of this body, where
there is in reality more dignity and noble
blood but less brains than in the lower
house.
A visit was made to the courts of chan |
Gerry, probate, appeals, etc., which occupy
rooms in huge building On Fleet street.
where Temple Bar formerly stood. A
number of the courts were in session, to |
all of which we gained admittance except |
one. The judges all wear the
wig and gown. and likewise the
barristers. There are two classes of law
yers who operate in these courts, barristers |
who address the judge and councillors who !
wear no mark of distinction, but consult |
with and advise the first named.
This letter would not be complete If l |
failed to say something about museums and |
picture galleries. 1t may occur to you that
l haye somewhere mentioned these two
subjects before. We spent half day at |
the Chrystal Palace-that stupenduous
building whose walls and roof are composed
of glass and elsewhere did duty in the
exhibition of 1851 This, to-
gether with the grounds upon which it is
now located cost the enormous sum Of
seven millions of dollars, and is, of course,
considered one of the sights of London.
l have not time nor space to describe it in
detail, but will say briefly that it contains
a vast museum, theatre, an immense organ
and amphitheatre, dozen or so of restaur-
ants and as many bars, workshops and ex-
hibition rooms for various manufactured
articles and an immense picture gallery of
modern paintings for sale, ranging in price
all the way from twenty-five dollars to ten
i 4